Rape of the Lock 2.0 Flashcards
Q: How does The Rape of the Lock transform the classical epic form?
A: Pope mimics epic structure (e.g. invocation to the muse, heroic similes, underworld descent) but applies it to trivial social matters, turning heroic grandeur into social satire.
Q: How is language used ironically in The Rape of the Lock?
A: Elevated poetic diction describes gossip, beauty rituals, and card games – reveals artificiality of contemporary codes.
Q: How does Pope subvert visual epic conventions?
A: He replaces epic masculine symbols with feminine ones: armour becomes petticoats, weapons become hairpins, and battlefields become dressing rooms or card tables.
Q: How does Pope’s 18th-century context differ from that of ancient epics?
A: While classical epics glorified heroism and collective identity, Pope critiques vanity and individual social anxiety in a refined, appearance-obsessed society.
Q: Is The Rape of the Lock an imitation, analogue, or new work?
A: It is a parodic imitation—a hybrid genre that both honors and satirizes the classical epic to critique modern society.
Q: How does Pope’s work affect how we view the ancient world?
- It encourages ironic or skeptical readings of epic
- Reinterprets myths to expose power dynamics embedded in classical tradition.
- Mythic allusions (Pandora, Scylla, Ixion) are reworked to reflect anxieties about femininity, vanity, and artifice – the gendered undercurrents of classical myth.
Q: Does Pope appropriate ancient authority to comment on his present?
A: Yes—he uses classical grandeur to critique 18th-century aristocracy, gender roles, and colonialist vanity hidden in beauty rituals.
Q: How does The Rape of the Lock “regrow” ancient practices in a new context?
A: Pope feminizes and aestheticizes epic conventions, adapting them to Enlightenment values and domestic satire rather than wheroic gloirification.
Q: What does the poem’s reception suggest about its cultural moment?
A: It reflects ambivalence toward epic ideals, embracing classical form while privileging irony, wit, and critique over moral or nationalistic glorification.
